WF spending over $2.5 million dollars on new fire trucks

The Wichita Falls Fire Department has several older trucks in it's fleet, something that got the attention of the city council.On Tuesday, members approved spending over $2.5 million dollars on new trucks.WFFD has four trucks over 20-years-old and one over 30.That is why council members agreed to spending the money on a ladder truck, squad vehicle and three pumpers.Jon Reese, Wichita Falls Fire Chief, said it had to be done. "The biggest thing is that some of the equipment is non-compliant with the new N.F.P.A. standards, which requires firefighters to be in a fully enclosed cab," Chief Reese said. "There's a lot of safety upgrades that we see in new technology with the new equipment. When you see the trucks running down the road, they look like they are new, but they are really running 20 to 30-year-old equipment."Darron Leiker, City Manager of Wichita Falls, said the city has money allocated for these type of purchases. "We plan for that in advance," Leiker said. "We have a capitol improvement plan for all of our equipment, including our fire equipment."Leiker said the city actually avoided a three percent price hike by buying the trucks now, rather than in the spring.Chief Reese believes the top of the line equipment will save lives. "When we get an alarm, we want to go out there and start the starter, the truck or engine to transport the firefighters safely to the scene," Chief Reese said. "That's a huge part of our job when we look at minutes and seconds of response time."The fire department got rid of a back up truck two years ago, but soon realized they need it.With the new vehicles, one of the older trucks will serve as a back up engine.